Topic: Sioux

By treaties concluded by the agents of the United State government at different periods, nearly all of the Indian tribes have been induced to remove west of the Mississippi. Those who remain in the haunts of their fathers are chiefly converts to Christianity, and in a half civilized state. Many of the tribes have dwindled into insignificance, yet the few who remain are proud to maintain their distinctive appellation, and support the independence of their old clan. The most powerful and numerous tribes in the northwest are the Sioux, or Dacotahs, the Blackfeet, Crows, and Pawnees. A few of the celebrated Delaware tribe still remain, and are a source of terror to their numerous enemies. The Blackfeet Indians occupy the whole of the country about the sources of the Missouri, from the mouth of the Yellow Stone to the Rocky Mountains. Their number is between forty and fifty thousand, and their general bearing is warlike and ferocious. Their enemies are numerous, yet they maintain their ascendancy. The Crows are a much smaller tribe than the Blackfeet, with whom they are always at war. They are fearless warriors, and seek their enemies wherever they are to be found. In number they are about six thousand. The following is an account of one of their battles with the Blackfeet Indians. Fight Between the Crow and the Blackfeet Indians In June, 1845, a...

Up to 1851, the immense uninhabited plains east of the Rocky Mountains were admitted to be Indian Territory, and numerous tribes roamed from Texas and Mexico to the Northern boundary of the United States. Then came the discovery of gold in California, drawing a tide of emigration across this wide reservation, and it became necessary, by treaty with the Indians, to secure a broad highway to the Pacific shore. By these treaties the Indians were restricted to certain limits, but with the privilege of ranging, for hunting purposes, over the belt thus re-reserved as a route of travel.

We have now to record the events of a war “which brought one of the noblest of Indians to the notice and admiration of the people of the United States. Black Hawk was an able and patriotic chief. With the intelligence and power to plan a great project, and to execute it, he united the lofty spirit which secures the respect and confidence of a people. He was born about the year 1767, on Rock river, Illinois. At the age of fifteen he took a scalp from the enemy, and was in consequence promoted by his tribe to the...

Third session, Thursday morning, October 17 Miss Collins was invited to speak. Miss Mary Collins. The question of leasing lands has come to us at Standing Rock Agency. We had a council of our Indians to consider the question. A great cattle company wanted to hire the land, and the Indians, without a single exception, voted against it, and their speeches were very interesting and strong. They said: “If we begin renting our lands, and depending on the income which we shall receive in this way, then we begin to pauperize our young men. We old ones have had to live off the Government, but we do not want our young men to do that.” The vote was unanimous. The Indians were sent back to their homes; but we received word that there was to be another council, because the thing had to be put through, as the Indian Commissioner wanted it done. At the next council Dr. Ward and Dr. Warner of New York were present, and they heard the whole thing. Again the Indians all were opposed to leasing the lands. Before I came away I heard a man say that the thing would be put through. I said it could not if the Indians voted against it, as the Indians had treaty rights. I was answered it was a very easy thing; that the Indian agent...

For the purpose of perpetuating the friendship which has heretofore existed, as also to remove all future cause of discussion or dissension, as it respects trade and friendship between the United States and their citizens, and the Sioune and Ogallala bands of the Sioux tribe of Indians, the President of the United States of America, by Brigadier-General Henry Atkinson, of the United States’ Army, and Major Benjamin O’Fallon, Indian Agent, with full powers and authority, specially appointed and commissioned for that purpose, of the one part, and the undersigned Chiefs, Head-men, and Warriors, of the said Sioune and Ogallala bands of Sioux Indians, on behalf of their bands, of the other part, have made and entered into the following articles and conditions, which, when ratified by the President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate shall be binding on both parties,—to wit: Article I. It is admitted by the Sioune and Ogallala bands of Sioux Indians, that they reside within the territorial limits of the United States, acknowledge their supremacy, and claim their protection. The said bands also admit the right of the United States to regulate all trade and intercourse with them. Article II. The United States agree to receive the Sioune and Ogallala bands of Sioux into their friendship, and under their protection, and to extend to them, from time...

A treaty of peace and friendship made and concluded at St. Louis, between William Clark, Ninian Edwards, and Auguste Chouteau, commissioners plenipotentiary of the United States of America, on the part and behalf of the said states, of the one part, and the undersigned chiefs and warriors, representing eight bands of the Siouxs, composing the three tribes called the Siouxs of the Leaf, the Siouxs of the Broad Leaf, and the Siouxs who shoot in the Pine Tops, on the part and behalf of their said tribes, of the other part. The parties being desirous of re-establishing peace and friendship between the United States and the said tribes, and of being placed in all things, and in every respect, on the same footing upon which they stood before the late war between the United States and Great Britain, have agreed to the following articles: Article I. Every injury or act of hostility, committed by one or either of the contracting parties against the other, shall be mutually forgiven and forgot. Article II. There shall be perpetual peace and friendship between all the citizens of the United States, and all the individuals composing the aforesaid tribes; and all the friendly relations that existed between them before the war shall be, and the same are hereby, renewed. Article III. The undersigned chiefs and warriors, for themselves and their tribes respectively, do,...

Wah-Zee-Yah had a son who was killed by Etokah Wachastah, Man of the South. Wah-zee-yah is the god of the winter, and Etokah Wachastah is the god of the summer. When there is a cold spell early in the warm weather, the Dahcotahs say Wah-zee-yah is looking back. When the son of Wah-zee-yah was killed, there were six on each side; the Beings of the south were too strong for those of the north, and conquered them. When the battle was over, a fox was seen running off with one of the Beings of the north. These gods of the Dahcotahs are said to be inferior to the Great Spirit; but if an Indian wants to perform a deed of valor, he prays to Haokah the Giant. When they are in trouble, or in fear of anything, they pray to the Great Spirit. You frequently see a pole with a deer-skin, or a blanket hung to it; these are offerings made to the Great Spirit, to propitiate him. White Dog, who lives near Fort Snelling, says he has often prayed to the Great Spirit to keep him from sin, and to enable him and his family to do right. When he wishes to make an offering to the Great Spirit, he takes a scarlet blanket, and paints a circle of blue in the centre, (blue is an emblem of...

Wenona was the light of her father’s wigwam the pride of the band of Sissetons, whose village is on the shores of beautiful Lake Travers. However cheerfully the fire might burn in the dwelling of the aged chief, there was darkness, for him when she was away and the mother’s heart was always filled with anxiety, for she knew that Wenona had drawn upon her the envy of her young companions, and she feared that some one of them would cast a spell 1The Indians fear that from envy or jealousy some person may cast a fatal spell upon them to produce sickness, or even death. This superstition seems almost identical with the Obi or Obeat of the West India Negroes. upon her child, that her loveliness might be dimmed by sorrow or sickness. The warriors of the band strove to outdo each other in noble deeds, that they might feel more worthy to claim her hand; while the hunters tried to win her good will by presents of buffalo and deer. But Wenona thought not yet of love. The clear stream that reflected her form told her she was beautiful; yet her brother was the bravest warrior of the Sissetons; and her aged parents too was not their love enough to satisfy her heart! Never did brother and sister love each other more; their features were the same,...

The valley of the Upper Mississippi presents many attractions to the reflecting mind, apart from the admiration excited by its natural beauty. It is at once an old country and a new the home of a people who are rapidly passing away and of a nation whose strength is ever advancing. The white man treads upon the footsteps of the Dahcotah the war dance of the warrior gives place to the march of civilization and the saw-mill is heard where but a few years ago were sung the deeds of the Dahcotah braves. Years ago, the Dahcotah hunted where the Mississippi takes its rise the tribe claiming the country as far south as St. Louis. But difficulties with the neighboring tribes have diminished their numbers and driven them farther north and west; the white people have needed their lands, and their course is onward. How will it end? Will this powerful tribe cease to be a nation on the earth? Will their mysterious origin never be ascertained? And must their religion and superstitions, their customs and feasts pass away from memory as if they had never been? Who can look upon them without interest? hardly the philosopher surely not the Christian. The image of God is defaced in the hearts of the savage. Cain-like does the child of the forest put forth his hand and stain it with a...

“Tell me,” said, Hiatu-we-noken-chah, or ‘woman of the night,’ “the Great Spirit whom you have taught me to fear, why has he made the white woman rich and happy, and the Dahcotah poor and miserable?” She spoke with bitterness when she remembered the years of sorrow that had made up the sum of her existence. But how with the missionary’s wife? had her life been one bright dream had her days been always full of gladness her nights quiet and free from care? Had she never longed for the time of repose, that darkness might cover her as with a mantle and when ‘sleep forsook the wretched,’ did she not pray for the breaking of the day, that she might again forget all in the performance of the duties of her station? Could it be that the Creator had balanced the happiness of one portion of his children against the wretchedness of the rest? Let her story answer. Her home is now among the forests of the west. As a child she would tremble when she heard of the savage whose only happiness was in shedding the blood of his fellow creatures. The name of an “Indian” when uttered by her nurse would check the boisterous gayety of the day or the tedious restlessness of the night. As she gathered flowers on the pleasant banks of the Sciota, would...

This agreement made pursuant to an item in the sundry civil act of Congress, approved August 7, 1882, by Newton Edmunds, Peter C. Shannon, and James H. Teller, duly appointed commissioners on the part of the United States, and the different bands of the Sioux Indians by their chiefs and headmen whose names are hereto subscribed, they being duly authorized to act in the premises, witnesseth that— Article 1. Whereas it is the policy of the Government of the United States to provide for said Indians a permanent home where they may live after the manner of white men, and be protected in their rights of property, person and life, therefore to carry out such policy it is agreed that hereafter the permanent of the various bands of said Indians shall be upon the separate reservations hereinafter described and set apart. Said Indians, acknowledging the right of the chiefs and headmen of the various bands at each agency to determine for themselves and for their several bands, with the Government of the United States, the boundaries of their separate reservations, hereby agree to accept and abide by such agreements and conditions as to the location and boundaries of such reservations as may be made and agreed upon by the United States and the band or bands for which such separate reservation may be made, and as the said separate...

Articles of a treaty made and concluded at Fort Sully, in the Territory of Dakota, by and between Newton Edmunds, governor and ex-officio superintendent of Indian affairs of Dakota Territory; Edward B. Taylor, superintendent of Indian affairs for the northern superintendency; Major-General S. R. Curtis, Brigadier-General H. H. Sibley, Henry W. Reed, and Orin Guernsey, commissioners on the part of the United States, duly appointed by the President, and the undersigned chiefs and head-men of the Minneconjon band of Dakota or Sioux Indians. Article I.The Minneconjon band of Dakota or Sioux Indians, represented in council, hereby acknowledge themselves to be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction and authority of the United States, and hereby obligate and bind themselves individually and collectively, not only to cease all hostilities against the persons and property of its citizens, but to use their influence, and, if requisite, physical force, to prevent other bands of the Dakota or Sioux, or other adjacent tribes, from making hostile demonstrations against the Government or people of the United States. Article II.Inasmuch as the Government of the United States is desirous to arrest the effusion of blood between the Indian tribes within its jurisdiction hitherto at war with each other, the Minneconjon band of Dakotas or Sioux, represented in council, anxious to respect the wishes of the Government, hereby agree and bind themselves to discontinue for the future all...